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Soldiers Call for Engineering Tech Support
chuckfucter writes "Wired news writes that soldiers in the battlefield now have their own army of geek advisers whom they can contact whenever they need technical support. The stakes are much higher here, with troops asking about the structural integrity of bridges, roads, dams and airfields: Can this structure be safely used after sustaining damage from bombings?"
Give it a few months and they'll outsource it to India like all the other tech support jobs.
Tech support: Tech support line -- Falluja office. Can I help you?
Solider: Um... never mind.
"Wired news writes that soldiers in the battlefield now have their own army of geek advisers whom they can contact whenever they need technical support. "
Ummm, wouldn't that be the Army Corp. of Engineers?
These are the same folks who designed most of the dams under the TVA. They designed the steel mesh "tires" on the MOON ROVER, for pete's sake! I'm 40 years old and even I was a kid when that was happening.
It's a way cool place to tour if you're in the area. Don't know if they still have the hangar-size scale model of the san francisco bay but if they don't there's sure to be something equally impressive occupying that space.
If we're talking small government in terms of decreased spending, then Halliburton is a terrible example. I fail to see how handing a cost-plus contract to a company without any bidding process whatsoever is a good way to save money. It may sound good in theory, but in practise I imagine that it's a lot like giving some random guy a blank check to go get you some beer instead of walking to the store yourself.
Over how many years?
:-/
Who gives a damn? The guy used nerve gas on his own city, pushed little kids out of helicopters, randomly terrorized his people with the police force, turned a blind eye to his kids raping women, and a lot of other crap that the body count just doesn't do justice to!
America killed at least 100,000 in 2 years. I'd be willing to say America has the higher rate of killing Iraqi civillians.
Listen up, you sanctimonious son of a bitch: The US troops aren't killing people. The remnants of Saddam's forces are. Just like they've done for the last two DECADES. Only now, assholes like you blame it on people like my brother who are PROTECTING people over there. He nearly lost his life protecting Iraqis on MANY occasions. And you know what? The IRAQIS are THANKFUL he's there. In fact, civilian support is one of the few things that keeps him alive.
So get off your GODDAMN high horse, and recognize that the US has actually DONE A GOOD THING. You can argue with the reasons for starting the war, but don't you DARE blame deaths caused by Saddam's regime on our troops.
Ok moderators, I've said my peace. Do your worst.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Yeah, sure.... the Canadians and Mexicans were just waiting for you to lower your defenses in order to conquer, plunder and rape defenseless Americans... Americans who are unarmed by definition, after all they don't have right to bear arms to form militia.
The two large coasts? You need an industrialized nation in order to attack those (airplanes/warships). China could *perhaps* do that. Europe is out of the question: we barely have enough military to defend ourself if anyone would like to invade us.
Besides, the US under attack would immediately recall all troups in Iraq. Be damned civil war in Iraq if you've got bigger problems at home.
Thanks for calling the USMC technical support line.
If you have been shot, press "1".
If you have been bayoneted, press "2".
If you want to shoot someone else, press "3".
If you want to talk to a human being, a real nerdy type, the type you jock military type assholes used to bully in high school then you can kiss my safe, bunkered, hairy corn-fed ass. Yeah, not so clever now are you? Right, now Ive got your attention, lets talk about that wedgy you gave me in sixth grade...
It may make the difference between life and death.
Then I'm glad they decided to use this method instead of AskSlashdot.
Is this a joke? If you don't want a piece of code you wrote to be used in a certain way, then license it in a way that takes that into consideration. Of course, at that point, its no longer "free and open", its "free unless i don't like what you're doing". If you actually submit code to larger projects, where you don't have control over the licensing, well... too damn bad. Either don't give it away for free, or live with it. Nothing is being 'abused' here, but hey, thats common sense, and your post smells more like a troll then that of a real, concerned programmer who submits to open source projects.
support: Hello, tech support; how can I help you?
soldier: Our tank is down - the radar's out, the tracking and targetting is out and the engine won't start - we're surrounded and the enemy are closing in on us.
support: I'll just create a ticket for you. you need to use this number every time you contact us about this problem. but only this problem.
soldier: jeez!
support: have you tried rebooting your tank?
soldier: of course we have. It still won't move.
support: could you try again for me?
soldier: no, this urgent and it won't make a difference.
support: okay, ... go to your tank's control panel (you can find it in My Tank(TM)) and double click 'MS KillForeigners Pro' (hopefully you've had the friendly-fire patch applied).
soldier: it's not there!
support: are you sure? it should be; it's a standard application. we include it in all builds.
soldier: it aint there. quick they're getting closer and they have armour peircing weapons.
support: okay, i'll have to call a contractor because we don't actually support MS KF Pro. He'll be about two hours; he's stuck in traffic near a pub.
soldier: [blood curdling screams followed by explosion and white noise]
support: [to self] I hate it when that happens, we've got no way of getting those tickets off the system and it really distorts our performance under the service level agreement.
[heard from the next cubicle] the person who deals with nuclear weapons is on his lunch break. Have you tried rebooting your intercontinental ballistic missile?
Desmond Doss, a medic and Conscientious Objector from Rising Fawn, Georgia, received the Medal of Honor on 12 October 1945 for actions on 5 May 1945 at the Maeda Escarpment, Okinawa with Company B of the 77th Infantry Division. He disregarded heavy enemy fire and lowered between 50 and 100 (Doss claimed it couldn't have been more than 50, while the men of his unit said it was 100) wounded men down the escarpment on a rope, using a tree stump as a pulley.
He was wounded twice on 21 May 1945. The first wound was received when he stepped on a grenade that had been thrown into the foxhole he shared with 3 other men. The second wound, a bullet to his arm, was received as he helped another wounded soldier to safety.
He also received a Bronze Star for actions at Leyte earlier in the war.
PFC Doss went on to donate his $100/month MoH stipend to the Civilian Defense Rescue Service of Walker County, Georgia.
BTW, I live in Walker County, Georgia and had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Doss a few years back. I had to shout into his hearing aid for him to hear me. You'll never meet a nicer man.
"Alcohol, Tobacco, & Firearms" should be a convenience store, not a government agency.